HAMADA RESIGNS OVER 'BATGIRL'

TO DEPART OCT 21

>Amid the shelving of the HBO Max film Batgirl and the clear desire of Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav to find new leadership for the DC universe, DC Films president Walter Hamada has come to the verge of exiting the studio and consulted with counsel, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.

>Hamada has now agreed to remain in his post at least until the Oct. 21 release of the Dwayne Johnson film Black Adam, according to sources with knowledge of the situation. “He’s pausing,” says a source. “The decision has not been made to make this adversarial, yet.” Hamada could not be reached for comment.

>The tension comes as Zaslav has vowed to do what he has called a “reset” with respect to DC, with a 10-year plan he hopes will allow the brand to compete with Disney-owned Marvel Studios, which has built the biggest film franchise in history. “We think we can build a much stronger, sustainable growth business out of DC,” Zaslav said during Thursday’s earnings call. “As part of that, we are going to focus on quality. We are not going to release any film before it’s ready … DC is something we can make better.”

>An insider says Warner Bros. Pictures Group co-chairpersons and CEOs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, who are overseeing DC until Zaslav settles on new leadership, informed Hamada at a recent Black Adam test screening that Batgirl, a $90 million film that was in post-production, would be shelved. The explanation was that given Zaslav’s strategy, the picture wasn’t strong enough to release theatrically and was too expensive for a streaming release. The company, under pressure to cut costs, elected to take a writedown on the project.

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  1. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >A source with knowledge of the situation says Hamada was upset at not being consulted and concerned about the impact on those involved in making the film. On Aug. 2, before talent and their representatives had been informed of the decision, the New York Post broke the news that the film had been shelved. The Post reported that the film had low test scores and said a source described it as “irredeemable.”

    >In May, Warner Bros. Discovery canceled another DC movie headed to the streamer, Wonder Twins, just after KJ Apa and Isabel May were cast as the leads.

    >Hamada assumed his role in 2018 during a fraught time for DC, which was struggling to find its footing after Justice League (2017) missed at the box office and there was no clear path forward for its cinematic universe.

    >During his tenure, Hamada has forged relationships with filmmakers such as Marvel favorite James Gunn, bringing him on board for The Suicide Squad (2021) and keeping him in the fold for Peacemaker, a spinoff for HBO Max. Rather than strive for Marvel’s closely interconnected universe of films, DC’s properties under his watch were only loosely connected — and sometimes took place in entirely separate universes, such Joker (2019), which overperformed with more than $1 billion at the box office and earned Joaquin Phoenix a best actor Oscar, and Matt Reeves’ The Batman (2022), which brought in $769.2 million globally, a strong figure for the pandemic.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      >A source with knowledge of the situation says Hamada was upset at not being consulted and concerned about the impact on those involved in making the film.
      So basically he isn't defending the film itself, just pissed he was kept out of the loop . He doesn't care about Batgirl as much as his own seat of power.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        It's normal for executives to coordinate projects.

        Projects aren't normally sporadically cancelled, and it's going to discourage future producers to work with WBD.

  2. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >Previous to DC Films, Hamada was an evp production at New Line where he oversaw the genre label’s hugely successful horror franchise The Conjuring and It (2017), which made it $701.8 million at the box office.

    https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/dc-films-walter-hamada-exit-batgirl-1235193439/

  3. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Looks like a gay.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Pretty sure he had a buncha #metoo accusations from third rate actresses he slept with.

  4. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Good now Geoff Johns needs to resign and stop shitting up DC

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      100%

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      what is Geoff johns position at DC these days? he only co-writing a comic with three other people and is doing his weird image comics universe

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Why are you acting like this is his fault? They don’t listen to his notes most of the time anyway, and clearly a fall guy you’re dumb enough to fall for

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        Geoff pls

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          Yeah yeah I know the joke. But seriously, that’s pretty much the situation

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        >literally every DC movie since Josstice League has either been written by him or is based on his comic
        >"guys! Johns has nothing to do with DC being shit"

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          And then rewritten by demand of producers, executives, and two directors. Are you new to film?

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            are you seriously this fricking moron?

            • 2 years ago
              Anonymous

              GOOD MORNING SIR

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                that like crediting the entire success of the mcu because the earlier mcu movies were based of mark millars ultimate shit. Geoff is a hack but outside of his new 52 shit being the basis for JL, Shazam and Aquaman (the latter two being actually succesful) the DCEU failed because producers and directors like snyder were at odds. The real shitstorm that hack is responsible is GL 2011, which ironically assblasted hal jordan out of live action for who knows how long

                so you people are actually this fricking stupid? you do know Johns was literally in charge of DC films before Hamada, right? And that THAT'S the reason he's credited as a writer for WW84 and why Shazam, Black Adam, and Aquaman are based on his comics?

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                >ITS ALL JOHNS FAULT REEEEEE
                You’re an idiot. Johns is a creative consultant that can choose to ignore. He’s not the head of this ship

            • 2 years ago
              Anonymous

              Are you? You’re so autistic about hating Johns you neglect how many people have a say in these projects. He’s a nobody by comparison

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          that like crediting the entire success of the mcu because the earlier mcu movies were based of mark millars ultimate shit. Geoff is a hack but outside of his new 52 shit being the basis for JL, Shazam and Aquaman (the latter two being actually succesful) the DCEU failed because producers and directors like snyder were at odds. The real shitstorm that hack is responsible is GL 2011, which ironically assblasted hal jordan out of live action for who knows how long

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Are you moronic?

  5. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Some people see this as a clean slate.

    More intelligent people realize that WBD is making enemies of the best actors, directors and production teams in Hollywood.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      >the best actors, directors and production teams in Hollywood
      >people making direct to HBO Max shit like Batgirl
      pick one
      Unless you mean doing this pisses off far better teams on principal. Still, these projects all sounded like turkeys made by c-list teams on the cheap.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        People haven't even seen the movie and they jump to the conclusion that it was terrible despite that not being the official reason for its cancellation.

        The official reason given by Zaslav was because they don't want high-budget movies on their streaming platforms, and he wants to focus more on the titular characters of the brand (Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman) for the theatrical releases.

        Whether you agree with this is irrelevant. Because good directors are not going to line up for projects that can be cancelled on a moments notice. Good directors have options, and most of them could afford not to work if they wanted to.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          What you were seeing was early diplomacy when the story first broke. He has now come out and said they don't have faith in the movie. I don't see how one reads it as anything but a quality issue.
          That movie was made for theaters. He decided it wasn't good enough for theaters.

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            So Flash will be good then, huh? A box office behemoth?

            Yeah I'll believe it when I see it.

            • 2 years ago
              Anonymous

              They've sunk 300 million into the Flash. That makes Batgirl a dog, and The Flash a baby, both caught in the 3 alarm house fire that is the WB. It may be an ugly baby that grows up to abuse kids and start a cult, but it's still a baby. You have to save it however you can.
              But keep your fingers crossed that WB doesn't already have Ezra Miller tied up in a basement somewhere. He's one firefight or a ritualistic sacrifice away from killing that movie for good.

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            >That movie was made for theaters.

            No, it wasn't. It was an HBO Max film.

            • 2 years ago
              Anonymous

              Maybe I'm mistaken. But $90 million is still a decent mid-range theatrical budget. (Something like the Minions cost $85M.) If this were merely a difference of opinion on release strategy, they would have just put it out in theaters. They could have even tacked on an additional 10 or 20 million to polish any special effects and add a few licensed songs. But they didn't do that.
              It's a quality issue.

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                Maybe they saw what happened to Morbius and decided that Batgirl wasn't worth the trouble.

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                Superheroes movies are dying, period.

                It's like with the Transformers movies, people just don't care anymore.

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                >But $90 million is still a decent mid-range theatrical budget

                The new guy doesn’t want their superhero movies to be mid-tier products. He wants everything to be giant Roland Emmerich event movies with big set pieces and shit for the popcorn crowd.

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                >He wants everything to be giant Roland Emmerich event movies with big set pieces and shit for the popcorn crowd.
                god I hope not because so far there's only been one director at DC who came even close to that

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            >He has now come out and said they don't have faith in the movie. I don't see how one reads it as anything but a quality issue

            Zaslav is basically gutting all HBO Max originals because he apparently doesn’t give a frick about a streaming service offering exclusive content that would, you know, make it more appealing reason to subscribe to it. He’s fundamentally opposed to doing that for any movies. That’s why he canceled Batgirl, which was meant as a lower budget streaming only movie, because it wasn’t “good enough” for a theatrical release. And before you start citing the New York Post again as proof of the movie being terrible, the decision is obviously just the fact that Batgirl is like a TV movie, not a big blockbuster, and that’s why it got canned because it doesn’t fit the new Boss’ grand vision. Henceforth Zaslav wants all WB movies to be theatrical releases, no streaming exclusives. He’s doubling down on big budget tentpoles which is a big mistake the second one or two of his projects fail to generate profits.

            Making loosely connected lower budget movies was a good idea because it allowed lesser characters to get movies. Now it’s doubling down on just characters they think can sell 200-300 million dollar blockbusters. Under such conditions Blue Beetle would have never gotten greenlighted. And it’s probably going to have massive reshoots to make it feel bigger, which is only possible because it’s still being shot, where as Batgirl was already in post-production phase and just few months away from release.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          but he’s not a good director though is he?
          american capeshit is plagued with hacks who push propaganda or troony nepotism at the expense of narrative.
          the industry even outside capeshit is stagnant and in need of new blood.

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            You fricking idiot. Directors at Marvel don’t have that much control. Everything is dictated by executives like Feige. At WB you have slightly more control about the tone and direction but even then the executives have massive veto power the second they start second guessing. Look at JL reshoots. Look at Ayer’s Suicide Squad being re-edited.

            • 2 years ago
              Anonymous

              the mcu is smarter and keeps it clear that they are the arbiters of the creative vision, which is why people with distinct visual styles like edgar wright got filtered out. DC allowed Snyder to dictate the tone and presentation of DCEU with MoS for better or worse but then back tracked and tried to copy the mcu

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      >the best actors, directors and production teams in Hollywood.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        You do realize that these people have connections and see how their peers are being treated, right?

        Would you take a job for a team where people are seemingly randomly fired without a moment's notice? Do you think anyone with proper qualifications and options would?

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          >these people have connections
          Ah, OK. You weren't talking about talent.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      The stock dropped because they showed how much money Warner had pissed away, not because they're cancelling everything

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        lol this is pure cope
        Investors saw the new strategy and bailed

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Yeah I mean 4 years ago when Johns and Berg were running shit people were begging and hyped when Hamada came in
      He brought in good talented people from Marvel

      Now Zaslav is alienating and firing them while promoting the guy who made Joker

      It seems like a disastrous misstep

  6. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    His DC was 100x better than Sneeders

  7. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    It's abundantly clear to anyone with a brain that WBD will fail in their DC venture.

    Just pop some popcorn and wait for the house of cards to fall apart again.

  8. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >HAMADA RESIGNS OVER 'BATGIRL'

    Am I supposed to give a shit about the millionaires having a tiff?

  9. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >RESIGNS
    Suuure. Just like sarnoff and emmerich "resigned.

  10. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    I'm surprised dude's stuck around at DC for as long as he has. all the new CEO's been saying ever since he took control of the company is how much he can't wait to hire a new person to make DC movies. Hamada ought to go somewhere that actually appreciates him

  11. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Well that basically kills the Black personmen projects. Back to a white Superman we go!

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